Best Throne and Liberty Guardians: Which ones to get for your build (PvE/PvP)

Throne and Liberty Guardians are unique temporary transformations players can use for their special and powerful effects. These transformations are active for 30 seconds and feature a long cooldown of multiple minutes. However, other factors can reduce usage time.

The first Guardian, Vampire Slayer Ezekiel, is obtained during the Pledge Loop adventure quest in Chapter 5: A Sacred Pledge of Blood. Players can unlock more Guardians through various Codex Exploration quests. These Guardians are involved in the region's lore and are often important past or present-time characters.

There are no objectively best or worst picks as each Throne and Liberty Guardian has a unique functionality that naturally ties it to certain playstyles and builds. This guide will help players track each Guardian, and how to use them optimally.

Throne and Liberty Guardians: How to obtain them and their talents

How Guardians appear if you haven't unlocked them (Image via NCSoft)

There are seven Guardians that players can obtain, including Ezekiel from the campaign. The methods to obtain them and their powers are detailed below:

Guardian	Source	Talent
Vampire Slayer Ezekiel	Pledge Loop, Chapter 5: A Sacred Pledge of Blood	Increases all defenses by 400. Deals 0.6% of your Max Health as damage to targets within 2.5 meters. Restore health equal to 20% of the damage dealt.
Green Ranger Elowen	Codex Quest: Elemental Tree Harvest: Nesting Grounds Nesting Tree Grounds, Laslan	Upon transformation, grants an 80% chance to inflict Bind on targets within 4 meters for 5 seconds. Grants 500 Critical Hit Rate against Slowed and Bound targets during transformation.
Brutal Warrior Valkarg	Codex Quest: Desert Plunderers Monolith Wastelands, Stoneguard	Upon transformation, stores damage taken equal to 4000% of Base Damage. Inflicting any Stun, Bind, or Sleep deals 25% of stored damage as outgoing damage on an enemy.
Masked Warlock Dantalux	Codex Quest: The Voice Behind the Mask Sandworm Lair, Stoneguard	Recover 26% Mana of the used. Nearby Ally recovers 53% of their used Mana.
Lady Knight Kamarshea	Codex Quest: Elemental Tree Harvest: Daybreak Shore Daybreak Shore, Stoneguard	Gain a shield for 50% of your maximum Mana. Gain 40% Cooldown Speed while shielded. Transformation ends when the shield breaks or if 30 seconds have passed.
Shade Revenant Stheno	Codex Quest: For Whom the Bell Tolls Ruins of Turayne, Laslan	Launches 5 Projectiles in a 10-meter radius that deals 52% of the Base Damage. Projectiles are launched at random enemies. Enemies can be hit multiple times.
Pale Nemesis Hartach	Codex Quest: Farewell Ruins of Turayne, Laslan	Upon transformation, grants stealth if the first target dies within 3 seconds. Stealth lasts 5 seconds during the day and 7.5 seconds during the night. The first attack during stealth is guaranteed to be a Critical Hit.

The Elemental Tree Harvest: Nesting Grounds quest occurs before players travel to Stoneguard. Hence, they will have likely picked up Green Ranger Elowen before unlocking the Guardian feature.

Best Throne and Liberty Guardian for Support classes

Dantalux's fashion sense is quite gaudy (Image via NCSoft)

The easiest and safest option for supports such as damage-amplifiers or healers, is to go for Masked Warrior Dantalux. The Guardian might appear lackluster on paper but the latter Dimension Circle dungeons make this a perfect fit.

During DPS phases, it's easy for casters and even tanks to run out of resource sustain. With careful positioning, Dantalux's mana restoration is one of the best choices in PUG (pickup group) runs.

Best Throne and Liberty Guardian for DPS classes

PvE

The best Guardian for all PvE DPS players is Shade Revenant Stheno. The talent is powerful on its own, as it's a massive DPS multiplier against larger targets like Archbosses but also hits smaller targets multiple times. However, as the projectiles can inflict skill effects, Stheno is a no-brainer for melee classes.

For spellcasters, the best option is Lady Knight Kamarshea, who is a straightforward damage boost in every condition. As the transformation cooldown will rarely exceed the encounter duration, using this after Staff's High Focus is on cooldown will allow players to keep spamming high-damage spells. Although it's a lower cooldown reduction than High Focus, the additional shield makes it worthwhile.

Quite the sneaky character this one (Image via NCSoft)

PvP

In Throne and Liberty, PvP and Conflict zone fights require different approaches. While Stheno can work in high-density situations, Kamarshea's shields unfortunately will not be enough if players are caught away from their team.

Furthermore, PvP specialists can use Pale Nemesis Hartach for quick high-value target kills. Experienced groups with one Hartach player can devastate a backline with chain assassinations. Furthermore, stealth during the night can potentially be exploited with the Transcendental Skill: Eclipse. It's extremely situational and inexperienced PvP players will get caught off guard trying uncoordinated attacks, but it has great potential.

On the other hand, PvP spellcasters can use Green Ranger Elowen as a support and escape tool. Elowen's high chance of inflicting CC effects can stop ambushes on vulnerable players and their allies. Additionally, the increased Critical Hit Rate can be utilized against crowd-controlled groups as the buff is active regardless of who applied it.

Best Throne and Liberty Guardian for Tank classes

PvE

Vampire Slayers are always cool (Image via NCSoft)

Simply put, Vampire Slayer Ezekiel is the best Guardian for Tanks in any PvE encounter. Ezekiel's defense buff is higher than every Strength stat milestone and the damage output can be helpful once players reach high health pools. The 20% damage leeched won't be significant in SnS dominant builds, especially when A Shot at Victory is on cooldown. Tanks using Greatswords, however, will greatly benefit from Ascending Slash and Death Blow.

PvP

Like their DPS counterparts, Ezekiel's bonuses can be overwhelmed by coordinated attacks by organized groups. However, it is still a good choice for Conflict bosses for tanks holding aggro. Green Ranger Elowen is also a decent choice for the reasons mentioned above.

Unfortunately, Brutal Warrior Valkarg is an extremely complex Guardian for day-to-day gameplay. Its bonuses depend on multiple factors beyond a player's control, hence the results can be mixed if not entirely disappointing.

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Edited by Sijo Samuel Paul